Despite Being Illegal In Nevada, Teachers Are Gearing Up To Strike

LAS VEGAS, NV—The State of Nevada clearly states that “strikes against the State or any local government employer are illegal.”

Furthermore, if a government employer gets an injunction and an “employee organization” (aka a union) engages in a strike, it can result in a $50,000 per-day fine, as well as a $1,000 fine against “any officer of an employee organization,” as well as suspend or terminate any employee “who participates in such strike.”

So, are Nevada teachers and their union really going to risk it?

Last Monday, the Clark County Education Association put out a survey on twitter that asked members if they would be willing to take “part of a District-wide, all-day picket for one day in front of my school with parents, students, & my colleagues to bring attention to the need for more funding NOW” or “strike.”

On Wednesday, reports Victor Joecks of the Las Vegas Review-Journal, the union tweeted a quote from Marie Neisess, a Clark County School District teacher, “If it means a strike … I’m willing to do anything it takes because enough is enough.”

There’s an even more potent penalty available. If a union “disavows its pledge not to strike,” which the union arguably has done, the school district can withdraw recognition from that union. If the district does that, CCEA would no longer represent teachers in negotiations. The district wouldn’t collect dues for the union either.

The union is flirting with its own destruction.

“But those penalties go into effect only if the district pursues them,” notes Joecks. “The district declined to disclose its legal strategy when I asked if it was considering seeking an injunction.”

"I want to urge devotion to the fundamentals of human liberty – the principles of voluntarism. No lasting gain has ever come from compulsion. If we seek to force, we but tear apart that which, united, is invincible. . . . I want to say to you, men and women of the American labor movement, do not reject the cornerstone upon which labor’s structure has been built – but base your all upon voluntary principles…” -- Samuel Gompers, Founder, American Federation of Labor
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